The first, to scatter my grandmother's ashes. The second spent on my own for six months. The third in the company of a man I once loved.

A Portrait of India is a long term series that examines daily life and rituals across India.

Self Portrait in Varanasi

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Boys play inside a washing vat in Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai

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Nightbus, Calcutta

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Khushboo is from the Musuhar caste, one of the most marginalised communities in India. The threat of child marriage and trafficking is critically high amongst these communities. Female empowerment organisations like Nari Gunjun provide support, safe houses and education for young girls. Khushboo now lives at Nari Gunjun's boarding school in Bihar and has won nationally in karate.

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Taxi driver in Mumbai

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An elderly gentleman walks back from lunch in Calcutta

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Sunrise on the morning of Chhath Puja Festival in Varanasi

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Pine forest near Ghum, West Bengal

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Mirror shop, Udaipur

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A mahout’s daughter with vitiligo stands beside her family's elephant in Jaipur, India

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Wedding party, Udaipur

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Schoolgirls in Danapur, Bihar

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An Asian elephant stands visibly traumatised, chained to a temple pillar following a six-hour procession. It was paraded through the streets of Varanasi, noisy with crowds and rocketing fireworks, in the build up to Diwali, the festival of lights. The elephant was swaying and its bloodshot eyes swirled, as its owner looked on anxiously. There are an estimated 3,600 domesticated Asian elephants in India, belonging either to the government, wealthy families or temples and used in festivals throughout the year. They are an endangered species, their wild counterparts under threat from habitat loss and conflict with humans in agricultural areas.

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Tuk Tuk drivers in Mumbai

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A man prays on Manikarnika Ghat in Varanasi

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Rush hour, Mumbai

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I lived in Varanasi for a couple of months and spent much of my time on the Burning Ghats where Indian families take their dead relatives to be cremated on the banks of the Ganges. This is the grandfather of an Indian family I met. They specifically asked for photographs of them with their relative before and during the cremation. I also took this photo.

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Udaipur

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A boy sits inside his family car in Udaipur, Rajasthan

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Three sisters feed the seagulls in Mumbai

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Dhobi Ghat, Mumbai

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A woman working at a paper recycling plant in Kolkata, a city recently celebrated for its waste management schemes which deserve to be implemented around the rest of India

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Ferry Crossing at India Gate, Mumbai

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A sex worker in Rajasthan

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A young mother poses in a local restaurant on the outskirts of Pushkar, Rajasthan

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Flower market, Calcutta

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A tobacco seller in Colaba, Mumbai.

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A lift operator in Ghatkopar, Mumbai

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Pushkar, Rajasthan

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Through the veil in Calcutta

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A sex worker in Rajasthan photographed as part of a series with Nari Gunjan, a female empowerment charity in Bihar.